Mission Homepage ---
Last update: 7 December 1998
For instrument descriptions, click on the links, or see the Spacecraft Instrument Description page.
Note: these options are currently under development, as "new technology" makes itself available. Keep checking this page for updates.
| Cost: | $75 million |
|---|---|
| Weight: | 100 kg |
| Delivery Platform |
Cost (million $) |
Weight (kg) |
Power (W) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Planetary Flyby (Flyby) (allows probes) | |||
|
Planetary Orbiter (Orb) (allows probes, landers, rovers) |
| Instrument | Cost (million $) |
Weight (kg) | Power (W) |
|---|---|---|---|
Direct-Sensing Science Instruments | |||
|
High-energy particle detector (HEP) (30 keV - 3 MeV ) | |||
|
Plasma instrument (Plas) (detects low-energy plasma) |
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Dust detector (Dust) (particulate mass & composition) |
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Magnetometer (Mag) (magnetic field intensity and direction) |
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Plasma wave detector (PWD) (amplitude, frequency, direction) |
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| Atmospheric
Sensing Package (Atm) (temperature, pressure, velocity) | |||
|
Atmospheric Analysis Package (AtCo) (atmospheric composition) |
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|
Seismometer (Seis) (for lander) | |||
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Soil Penetrator (SPen) (for hard impact probe) |
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Soil Scoop (for lander or rover) |
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Soil Analyzer (Soil) (requires scoop) |
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Life Analysis Experiment (Life) (requires scoop) |
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Remote-Sensing Science Instruments | |||
| Radio Astronomy Instruments | |||
|
Low-Frequency Planetary Radio Telescope (LFPRT) (w/ small antenna) | |||
|
High-Frequency Planetary Radio Telescope (HFPRT) (w/ small antenna) | |||
| Imaging Instruments | |||
|
Lo-Res video imager (LRVI) (64x64 pixels, for probe or rover) |
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Lo-Res imager (LRI) (128x128 pixels) |
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Hi-Res imager (HRI) (256x256 pixels) | |||
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Wide-Field Camera (WFC) (512x512 pixels, 30mm) | |||
| Hi-Res Wide-field
Planetary Camera (HRWFPC) (1024x1024 pixels, w/filters) |
| ||
|
Multi-spectral filters (+f) (Imager Add-on, no extra DPU) |
| ||
|
Spectro-photometer (SpPh) (measure intensity with wavelength) |
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| Spectrometers | |||
|
Alpha-Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)
NEW! (for rover) |
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Imaging spectrograph (ImS) (near-UV to near-IR) | |||
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X-ray spectrograph (XRS) (keV range) |
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Gamma-ray spectrograph (GRS) (MeV range) |
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Synthetic aperture radar imaging (SAR) (planetary radar mapper) |
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| Altimeters | |||
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Laser rangefinder (LRF) (range to unobscured surface) |
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Radar rangefinder (RRF) (works through clouds) |
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Essential Spacecraft Systems | |||
| Computers | |||
|
Data Processing Unit (DPU) (1 needed for each 3 instruments) | additional 1.0 | ||
| Power Supplies | |||
|
Large Solar Panels (per 1 square meter panel) | +1.0 per square meter | +2.0 per m^2 | |
|
Small Solar Cells (per 1 square centimeter area) | +0.05 per square cm | +0.05 per cm^2 | |
|
Small Ion Battery (stores 1kW hour) | |||
|
Large Ion Battery (stores 10kW hours) | |||
|
Nuclear Generator (generates 1kW) | |||
| Spacecraft Shielding | |||
|
Light Radiation Shielding (moderate radiation environments) | |||
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Medium Radiation Shielding (high radiation environments) | |||
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Heavy Radiation Shielding (harsh radiation environments) | |||
|
Light Micrometeorite Shielding (up to micron dust and micrometeors) | |||
|
Heavy Micrometeorite Shielding (up to millimeter sized micrometeors) | |||
|
Pressure Shielding (up to 100 bars) | |||
| Sub-Orbital Vehicle |
Cost (million $) |
Weight (kg) |
Power (W) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Atmospheric Descent Probe (Atm) (drops into thick atmospheres) | |||
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Hard Impact Probe (HIP) (flyby or orbiter) | |||
|
Soft Planetary Lander (Land) (requires orbiter) | |||
|
Planetary Micro-Rover (Rov) (requires orbiter and lander) |
Instrumentation adapted from the NEAR project, and the NASA Missions page.
Disclaimer: This mission was fabricated by me, and has no offical association with NASA. I "borrowed" their logo for authenticity. I make no claim that the above numbers are in any way realistic.
Mission Homepage ---
smyers@nrao.edu Steven T. Myers